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Responding to sensitive disclosures on social media: a decision-making framework
Andalibi N., Forte A. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction25 (6):1-29,2018.Type:Article
Date Reviewed: Mar 26 2019

What is it about disclosing personal information online through social media sites, especially when sensitive information is delicate not only for the discloser but for responders, too? Disclosing personal information is always a risky activity, opening the door for malicious reactions that could significantly influence the discloser’s emotional and psychological states. The authors of this paper successfully recognize the whole range of possible situations in which someone may respond; nevertheless, the discloser (the person disclosing sensitive or potentially stigmatized information) is either a known or unknown person to the responder. Disclosure as a process of telling others about the self includes privacy in some way, that is, balancing disclosure and privacy. In a real-life situation, the discloser handles the flow of information in relationships by constructing the rules of using private information. Further, people are social beings, and the use of social communication to share experiences with others allows for more disclosure compared to face-to-face communication. However, disclosing sensitive information on social media allows for a variety of possible responses to the information, sometimes resulting in opposite reactions from what the discloser expected. How to respond to such information is a complex decision, although many responders react spontaneously.

In order to design a platform that supports the disclosure of sensitive information, the authors investigate why and how people respond when they encounter sensitive disclosures online. Thus, they start with the notion that social media users often receive unsupportive responses and reactions to self-disclosed information. Hence, they explicitly state that responses to sensitive disclosures are important in designing social computing systems that provide supportive interactions. For this purpose, they present a response decision-making framework (RDM) based on the factors influencing people who respond to sensitive disclosures on social media. The study is based on an interview approach, giving insight into the responding process via vignettes-based scenarios of disclosing sensitive and stigmatized personal information on social media platforms. Scenarios include pregnancy loss as a central idea, since disclosers often receive unsupportive responses and reactions to this common, painful, and often stigmatized experience. The authors visually and precisely present their findings.

This remarkable study is a worthwhile contribution to the literature on social media. Anyone involved with social media communication and the psychology of self-disclosure on such platforms should find it a very useful source for further research. Readers will better understand the process of “responding to sensitive disclosures on social media.”

Reviewer:  F. J. Ruzic Review #: CR146493 (1906-0245)
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